President Jonathan’s Inaugural Speech: In Defence Of Corruption

More like being in the spirit and speaking in tongues than being realistic – President Jonathan had said in his inaugural lecture on Thursday that: human ‘greed’ is the devil preventing Nigeria’s development instead of the widely-believed ‘corruption’ horror.

by Sunday NjokedeMay 28, 2011

More like being in the spirit and speaking in tongues than being realistic – President Jonathan had said in his inaugural lecture on Thursday that: human ‘greed’ is the devil preventing Nigeria’s development instead of the widely-believed ‘corruption’ horror.

Jonathan asked rhetorically: “How can one man amass wealth which even his great grandchildren cannot exhaust at the expense of the entire nation?”

But the president is lonely in his make-believe that greed is a more worrisome palaver in Nigeria than corruption. An interview from today’s Vanguard shows that Jonathan is caught up in his own hype. Those interviewed by the Vanguard weren’t impressed by the president’s argument in amplifying greed and putting it ahead of corruption in Nigeria.

In the interview, respondents were asked to list what they want the incoming government of Jonathan to accomplish. Stating categorically that corruption supersedes all other vices holding Nigeria to ransom.

Alhaji Balarabe Musa of the CNPP said: “There is nothing he can mention that he has done except for the level of corruption that has continued to increase by the day which is not going to reduce. So, we don’t expect anything good from any of them”.

And Pastor Ituah Ighodalo of Trinity House added his voice of his expectation from him “If Jonathan lives above corruption and he is transparent and sets example and chooses ministers who will do the same, Nigerians would be proud of him. If you cannot bribe the President and at least 80 to 90 percent of his minsters refuse to be corrupted, then the civil servants will not be corrupt and bit by bit, the message will cut across to everybody.

The president might choose to deceive a handful of fantasist with his incoherent inaugural tutorials but most Nigerians are ahead of time and could differential propaganda, mis-education, folly and outright dumbness of a leader.

It’s not just now that one realised that Jonathan is seriously handicapped and challenged when it comes to calling ‘CORRUPTION’ by its rightful name? He can’t mention or define corruption correctly without corrupting, mutilating, misapplying and underscoring it. Pretending corruption doesn’t exist in Nigeria whatsoever.

When he was the governor of his native Bayelsa State, he once argued that corruption committed by lower people in Nigeria is deadlier to the health of the Nigerian state than the sleaze done by higher-ups. This view is a lifelong perception held by Jonathan of which he has no scruple airing it in the public even if it’s damningly screwed to one side. ‘To hell with it!’ There’s no doubt that this kind of shady mindset makes the president one of the most dangerous occupants that ever lived in Aso Rock.

Mr Jonathan should refrain from living in denial of the existence of corruption in Nigeria. Underplaying this evil can only magnify our already injurious state of the nation. This kind of signal where the president pampers corruption and those doing it is some reasons why the already compromised Farida Waziri and other law-enforcers find it uninteresting to take on the big men. Going after corrupt ogas would be like writing your own obituary or pre-empting the president after he has commented that corruption is a lesser evil to greed. The EFCC knows better not to arrest Dimeji Bankole who’s billed to partake in tomorrow’s presidential inauguration after he refused to honour their invitation over the 10 million Naira scam. It’s all about the EFCC keeping it real with the president’s encouragement of corruption: see no evil and hear no evil about corruption. Till corruption kill Nigeria beyond repairs.

Jonathan should be well-studied and calculative each time he’s making public statements so as not to disgrace us further before the world. For now, the president should be schooled properly that corruption is a crime worldwide but not greed. Everyone is somewhat greedy by nature but not all of us are corrupt or want to be. We all yearn to gain the whole world to our private greed but not everyone would do that to lose their soul. You can arrest a person who corruptly enriched himself but not the one who greedily thought of enriching oneself.

Greed is the overmuch desire to have everything to oneself while corruption is the foulness of immorally taking something that doesn’t belong to you via bribery.

And conclusively, corruption is blameworthy for the untold woes that is bedevilling Nigeria.

Who could now see the second term re-election greed of burning desire in President Jonathan Goodluck’s mind? And who can indict or blame him for that which is in his chest that’s yet unknown and un-manifested? But, we saw the corruption and damaging trend of how OBJ used our money to bribe lawmakers to change the constitution in his favour to do third term tenure elongation. Corruption is our woe and not mere human greed that’s almost normal until developed into corruption. The president goofed plenty!

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